Moving Zones

What steps need to be taken in order to move a zone configuration from a Brocade 5000 switch to a Brocade 5100 switch? I want to be certain that I am following the correct steps to do this (I have found documentation that refers to cloning and/or copying an existing zone configuration from the 'old' switch to the 'new' switch and then enable that configuration). We are currently running Fabric OS v6.4.1b on the two 5100 switches (for storage we are using a NetApp).

Also, once the zone configuration has been enabled on the 'new' switch, will this delete everything (i.e. Aliases that were created on the 'new' switches)?

Re: Moving Zones

There are several methods you can use to copy/move a zoning DB, but which one to use depends on several things.

As you're questioning if aliases will be deleted on the new switch I assume both old and new switches have a defined zoning database active.

I also assume you want to copy a zoning DB from the old switch and add it to an already populated DB in the new switch.

The last assumption made is you're using WWPN's in your zoning instead of DID,SID notation.

If one or the other switch is empty (with regards to the zoning DB) you could attempt to ISL both the 5000 and 5100.

One method which works regardless of the state of the old and new switches.

1- get a copy of your zoning DB which you whant to copy, again several commands can accomplish this, I tend to use configshow -all in the CLI and have putty log it to a file for safe keeping. Alternatively you could use zoneshow or configupload -all to get hold of a copy using different commands

2- from the configshow -all you only need the section

prefixxes as cfg.* zone.* alias.* will tell you what kind of object you're looking at.

After the prefix. is the name of the object, followed by a colon (:).

After the colon follows the content of the object separated by semicolons(;) if there is more then one item.

3-first construct the command to create the aliases on the new switch, I use excel to construct the CLI command and content needed

4-repeat step 3 but now for your zones..

5-repeat step 3 but now for you configuration, making sure you add the zones from step 4 to the already saved configuration on your new switch.

6-double check your commands to make sure you're getting what you want.

7-before you apply any of the commands constructed in 3,4,5 do a configupload -all on the new switch . this enables a fast recovery should something go wrong.

8-check if the file in step 7 contains any and preferably valid data

For the following 3 steps make sure you copy paste you're content in descend sized chunks and to cfgsave occasionally and please do a cfgtransabort if something doesn't apply

9-apply the commands created in step 3 (this should be the additional aliasses only from step 3) in descend sized chucks.

10- repeat 9 but now for zones (created in step 4)

11- repeat 9 but now for the configuration (created in step 5)

12-enable the configuration on the new switch (it should by now contain it's own information from before you've started + the information from the old switch

Words of caution; if you don't feel comfortable doing stuff as described than don't do them.

Ask for a different solution describing in as much detail as possible what you're goals are and with as much detail as possible regarding your environment.

Alternatively you could hire someone to do the changes for you.

And lastly provided steps are done by head, so no guarantees those are foolproof

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